“I’ll never get hit by lightning….it seeks out golfers….baseball players…. soccer teams….politicians….ok maybe not the latter although don’t rule it out.

On a recent study at the top of the list for lightning strikes while outdoors is yep….you guessed it….anglers….while at the other end of the spectrum was golfers.

Florida is the lightning capital of the US and central Florida seems to be the breeding zone. It’s been reported that Florida has more than 100 days a year of thunderstorms. As of this writing, we’ve had 4 deaths in Florida.

To date in 2014, there have been 7 lightning fatalities:
4 in Florida, 1 each in Michigan, New Mexico and Texas

Note: Monthly normals are based on the 30-year average of 51 deaths per year (1984-2013) multiplied by the average monthly percentage of annual deaths from 1959-1994 as documented in NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS SR-193 with Dec 1961 plane crash fatalities removed from the data.

I was on Lake Erie fishing with 2 friends while 1 at the front of the boat hollered,”Look at my line!” Although his lure just splashed in the water, it was as if his line had defied gravity and was levitating. His boron rod started to hum. To say that we “Got Outa Dodge” would be putting it mildly. Yes this was some 30 + years ago “BEFORE” common sense & modern technology kicked in.

There’s an old saying….when thunder roars….go in doors. The fish will be there another day…. will you?